


Broken Miss America

by misscosmique



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Mental Breakdown, Mental Health Issues, Mental Institutions, Roommates, the dark au no one asked for
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-06-04
Packaged: 2018-11-09 02:23:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,635
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11094909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/misscosmique/pseuds/misscosmique
Summary: At nineteen, Riley Matthews had everything she had ever wanted: a loving boyfriend, a new car, and was halfway through her Intimate Apparel degree at Fashion Institute of Technology. So, why was she sent to Briarwood Psychiatric Hospital for a suicide attempt? Maya Hart is determined to find out.(or, The one where Maya Hart and Riley Matthews aren’t friends and meet in a hospital. Love ensues.)Based on the song LIFE by Jon Bellion





	Broken Miss America

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea why I wrote this but I did. Three parts in total. Enjoy!

**July 2nd, 2020**

“This will be your room for the time being,” A tall man said in a gruff voice, twisting the key to open the door. “If you have any problems tell the lady at the front desk when you have time. This is your half of the room,” He pointed to the right side. “Lights out at 10 sharp. Today is the exception since you’re new. They’ll go out as soon as I lock the door. Now go to sleep.”

Once the nurse was gone and the door was locked, Riley shuffled to her side of the room. Riley felt a bit of shame when she realized that she hadn’t been polite enough to ask the nurse’s name. She sat on the bed and tried to pinpoint the stench of the room: sterilization products and sweet peaches. She smiled to herself; peaches had always been a favorite of hers.

“Who are you?” A groggy voice asked from a bed opposite to hers. Riley looked up shocked, she hadn’t even realized there was a person bundled in a blanket across from her.

Closing her jaw, she replied, “Riley Matthews. No one told me that I’d have a roommate.”

The girl across from her sat forward, face being illuminated by the moonlight. She was a pretty blonde with kind eyes. She looked rough around the edges; _must have been through a lot_ , Riley thought.

“You shitting me?”

Riley scoffed at the language, “It isn’t polite to swear within the first five minutes of meeting someone.”

“Says who?”

“My parents.”

“They sound stiff as hell.”

Riley rolled her eyes and held out her hand, “Your name?”

“None of your business,” The blonde said, taking the hand, before grumbling out, “Sorry. Maya Hart.”

“Nice to meet you Ms. Hart.”

“We’ve met.” Riley’s eyebrows raised in surprise and she opened her mouth to ask, but was cut off, “We’ve gone to the same schools since we were eight.”

Riley rolled her eyes as she shook her head, “No way. I always remember faces.” _Especially those of pretty blondes_ , she thought to herself.

Maya snorted to herself, “You sat in the front with a stupid bow in your hair until you were 11. You only took it out after someone bullied you for it. A shame, honestly. It was nice.”

“How’d you know?” One of Maya’s perfectly sculpted eyebrows raised. Riley blushed, “Oh. I guess we did share some classes. Why don’t I remember you?”

“Don’t know, Bow-Head.” The blonde shrugged, bringing her blanket closer to her body.

“Did you change your haircolor?”

“No,” Maya grinned.

“Get contacts?”

Maya sat back, enjoying this back and forth that they had going on, “Uh, uh.”

“Braces?”

“Nope.”

Riley thought hard, finally coming up with, “Did you lose weight?”

“Shut up,” Maya hissed, standing up and walking over to Riley. She stood in front of the brunette for a second before poking her hard on the forehead, “Do not, under any circumstance, mention my weight.”

Riley raised her hands up in defense, eyes going wide, “Sorry. Didn't mean to strike a cord.”

Maya glared at Riley, walking back to her bed, “So you don’t remember me. ‘S not surprising. We never hung out and we never got paired up for a project.”  
Riley nodded, feeling bad that she couldn’t remember.

“So, why are you here, Princess? You had everything in High School, and I highly doubt that much has changed in the year since graduation.”

The shame immediately dissipated and Riley frowned, turning to lay on her bed, facing away from the blonde watching her, “You don’t know my life, Maya.”

“I know more than you’d think, Bow-Head.”

“How can you know me if I don’t even know myself.”

**May 25th, 2019**

  
It was a Saturday in late May, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping and this was the day that Riley Matthews’ life truly began to turn to shit. Today was graduation day and she stood between two people she didn’t know. And even though they had practiced too many time to count, she could feel that she was going to faceplant into the ground when she walked. She was nervous about high school ending and walking and losing her friends that she’d had all her life and about starting college and making her pare-.

“Riley Matthews.”

She plastered on a fake smile as she walked up the four stairs to shake hands with the Chancellor. She faced the crowd and saw her mother snap a picture. As she took the diploma the nerves in her stomach eased, but quickly they came fluttering back when she fell down the stairs. She didn’t necessarily fall, but she did trip and it was noticed and she had to leave the graduation ceremony early to go get her ankle checked out. It was only a sprain, but there was an obvious break to her pride.

“You didn’t miss much,” Lucas stressed as he sat next to her on the subway to a party that was planned ahead of time.

“It doesn’t matter what I missed! I fell in front of everyone. Now the graduating class is going to remember me as _Riley Matthews: The Girl Who Fell At Graduation_ , not as _Riley Matthews: Good Duck_.”

Lucas laughed, causing him to receive a glare from his girlfriend. He coughed to cover up the chuckle, “Why does it matter what people think of you, Riley? We probably won’t ever see any of those people ever again.”

Riley frowned, clutching her bag closer to her chest, “It’s the principle of the thing, Lucas! I want to change people, not have people think I’m clumsy.”

“Why can’t you do both?”

Sighing, Riley shook her head, “Doesn’t matter Lucas. Let’s just forget about it. So who’s throwing this thing, again?”

They continued to talk about the party until they reached their stop. After a short walk from the subway, the duo reached a nice apartment. Riley didn’t necessarily feel out of her element, she knew everyone at the party, but she felt weird being this far from home. She rarely left her side of the bridge and being in Brooklyn felt wrong.

It wasn’t that she never left the city, she did. She’s been on dates with Lucas outside her usual stomping grounds, but she always got a nervous knot in her stomach when she did. Tonight, however, the knot was more like an anchor.

“You okay?” She was standing alone looking at pictures along the staircase when Lucas came up to her with a drink in hand. “Here, should make you feel better.”  
With a small smile, she took the solo cup, “Thanks. And yeah, I’m okay. Just thinking.”

“About?”

“Life, I guess.”

“Broad topic, sweets.”

Riley rolled her eyes and downed her drink. She sat the now empty cup on the ledge and pulled her boyfriend to the living room dance floor, “Let’s dance.”  
As they danced, the moves quickly went from friendly to more than and Riley found herself being led up to a room short after. She was fine with finding a quiet place to talk, perhaps to kiss in without being stared at.

She wasn’t fine with, however, being shoved onto the bed in a room obviously belonging to the parents of whoever threw the party. She couldn’t remember at this point, everything felt fuzzy and she was tired. She was exhausted from the tears she was keeping in all night and the dancing she’d just finished with.

“Not tonight, Lucas.” Riley mumbled, pushing on the chest of the boy hovering above her.

“Oh come on, sweets. It’s just a little bit of fun.” Lucas paused between each word to press a gentle kiss to the side of Riley’s neck.

“I said no.” When her boyfriend continued to try and unbutton her blouse, she stuck her thumb and index finger inside his mouth, found his tongue and clamped down. In pain, Lucas looked at her with furrowed brows.

“Okay. Now that you’re listening: we aren’t going to have sex tonight. I’m not in the mood and I’d prefer to enjoy it, if it’s all the same to you. Instead, I’m going to leave and go home. Please get off of me.”

“Sorry, sweets.” Lucas muttered as he rolled off her.

Riley ignored him as she walked out of the room, adjusting her shirt while she did. A few people wolf whistled when Lucas followed in suite. Ignoring them as well, Riley left the house and started on her way home.

When she got to the subway, she quickly found a seat and waited for her stop to come. The ride consisted of her mind racing. _Falling off the stage_ , _sore ankle_ , _stupid boyfriend who doesn’t get it_ , _no friends who will understand_ , _not good enough_ , _stupid little gi_ -.

The subway came to a halt and broke her out of the trance she was in. Deciding that some fresh air might do her mind some good, she got off a stop early.

While she was walking she felt drops start flowing from her eyes. She didn’t know exactly why she was crying but she knew she couldn’t go home yet; her roommate would be there and she couldn’t deal with people just yet. So, she kept walking.

That’s how she ended up sniffling on a bench staring longingly a statue of four friends.

“What’s up with you, Cutie?” Riley quickly wiped her tears away and looked at a girl with bright blue hair who was leaning against the wall.

“Huh?”

“Are. You. Okay?”

**July 3rd, 2020**

The next morning, Riley woke up to the sound of the door being opened.

“Wake up. Breakfast in ten. Showers after.” The door closed again before Riley could see who said it.

“Morning sunshine.” Maya said, stretching when she sat up, a small strip of pale skin being exposed by the movement. Riley quickly looked away and cleared her throat.

“Good morning.”

Maya yawned before stepping out of her bed and into a knock off pair of slip-on Vans.

“They took your shoes away too?

The blonde rummaged through her drawers of clothes. “Regulatory action for every patient. They think we might try to hang ourselves with the shoe string if they didn’t take them away.. Kind of ridiculous, though. For me at least. I checked in wearing heels. What could I do with heels?”

“You might try and stab yourself,” Riley joked, instantly regretting it. She was here for being mentally unstable and here she is, joking about it. She felt a bit relieved when Maya laughed and headed to the restroom. She didn’t close the door. Riley diverted her attention to making her bed, not wanting to peep on the other girl who was basically changing in front of her.

Maya started talking once more from inside the bathroom, “Since I’ve been here, I’ve found 439 ways to kill myself with supplies readily available to us. Not that I’d ever do that, because. Well, I’m not here for being suicidal. But yeah, if you ever need one, or a few, I have a list.”

Riley didn’t know if she was kidding or not, so she opted to awkwardly smile and sit on her newly made bed. She wouldn’t have clothes or a toothbrush until after breakfast so she was stuck with what they gave her last night: a pair of old sweats and a white hoodie.

“Why are we locked in?” Riley questioned as Maya walked out in a clean baggy gray shirt and some new sweats that matched her own. She had fixed her hair into a high ponytail and was smiling at the brunette. She sat on the bed besides Riley.

“We’re hazards to other patients. Or at least that’s what Frank always tells me.”

“Who’s Frank?”

“The guy that walked you in last night. Don’t let him fool you, he’s a total softie once you’ve been here long enough.”

“How long have you been he-.” Riley was cut off by the sound of a key in the lock. She looked through the small window and saw Frank.

Maya stood up and left her hand out for Riley to take. “Come on, let’s go meet the other’s. They’ll like you.”

**June 26th, 2020**

Riley sighed as she sat next to Lucas in their usual coffee joint, “We’re done.”

“Huh?” He questioned, looking up at his girlfriend of three years.

“I can’t do this.”

“Sure, Riles,” Lucas laughed, wrapping an arm around the brunette’s shoulders and pulling her close, “I thought we could go by the Greek place tonight and grab a few gyros. Maybe take them back to your dorm and tell your roommates to scatter for a few days.”

Riley deadpanned for a second before glaring at the man next to her, “Did you not hear me?”

“I did, but this happens all the time. You get mad about something I did and then I buy you a gift and we spend three or four days at your place,” Lucas shrugged and kissed Riley’s cheek, “I’m sorry for whatever I did, by the way.”

“You didn’t do anything.”

“I’m sorry for not doing anything?”

“You shouldn’t be sorry. You just need to listen, okay?” Lucas let go of her and turned to look at her, completely focused on the girl in front of him. “I am not okay.”

“No, you’re perfect,” He smiled goofily.

“I’m trying to tell you: I’m not! I’m the furthest thing from perfect,” Riley mumbled, waving her arms as she spoke, “Most people don’t want to cry every time they think of school. Most people look forward to waking up. Most people are in love with the person they’ve been with for three years.”

Lucas’ smile fell immediately, “What?”

“I’m not okay, Lucas.”

“You’re not in love with me?” He asked, ignoring what his girlf-. _Ex_ -girlfriend was trying to say. Riley shook her head and looked down at her fiddling fingers.

“I haven’t been for a long time. I love you, I will always love you, but I’m not _in_ love with you. But that’s not the thing. We started as friends and I need a friend right now. I need my best friend, Lucas.”

Lucas smiled weakly before standing up and grabbing his jacket, “You can text Zay or Farkle, then. I just. I can’t be just your friend right now. I’m sorry.”

Riley stared off at the retreating figure of her ex-boyfriend.

**July 3rd, 2020**

They didn’t like her. She, apparently, looked too “mentally stable” to be in _this_ hospital. Resisting the urge to spit something nasty at them, recently Riley’s temper had been linked to a short fuse and half of the things coming out of her mouth were regretted instantly, Riley walked away and sat in the corner table by herself. She was halfway through her oatmeal when Maya came and sat down in front of her.

“Why are you sitting here? I thought I wasn't fucked up enough for you guys,” She said bitterly, swirling her spoon around in her bowl.

“Oh, fuck them,” The blonde said, rolling her eyes, “They don’t know anything. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t need to be. It’s not a bed and breakfast.”  
Riley smiled to herself, “Thanks.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“So, I was asking before we came out here, how long have you been here?” Maya’s fork dropped and she glared at Riley with pursed lips. _Such nice lips_ , Riley thought absentmindedly.

“Jesus, Bow-Head. This isn’t the type of small talk you have here. If you want people to like you, or at least not be outright assholes to you, don’t ask how long they’ve been here or why. It’s rude and a sure-fire way to piss someone off.”

Riley nodded, “Noted.”


End file.
